User Reviews

'Broken' is an excellent example of just how good British drama films/series can be when they are done right. The film is straight to the point and develops at a good pace with lots of different things going on between the various characters.

There is a lot of characters in this film (3 different families who are all neighbours) and we see how their lives are affected by various going ons. This film really doesn't hold back, some of the scenes and subjects will be uncomfortable for some viewers. I really didn't like the Oswald family but the story really wouldn't have worked without them.

I really liked how parts of this film where done, we would see something happen unexpectedly and then it would flashback to show the build up to it from a different perspective. The story linked together really well. It is very engaging although some parts are unrealistic.

The acting in this film was nothing short of superb from everyone. There was a lot of familiar faces but the star of the show has to be Eloise Laurence who made her acting debut in the lead role as Skunk.

It's a shame this film probably won't get the recognition it deserves due to it being relatively unheard of. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good dram film, you won't be disappointed.

8/10.

'Broken' is a film about a young girl named skunk, her life is turned upside down after witnessing a violent incident happen to one of her neighbours. From then one things go from bad to worse amongst the neighbourhood and her own family.

This film is acting debut of Eloise Laurence who plays Skunk, she is faultless. She keeps Skunks emotions right on the edge of her sleeves which makes her performance more real. When you look at her you can't help but smile even when it's a serious scene, she is just so cute and so amazingly talented. I hope to see her more in the future.

Tim Roth plays Skunk's dad Archie. As always Tim is amazing, he really brings all the emotions a father would feel towards his daughter and puts it into his performance and let's face it, who wouldn't want Tim Roth as their on-screen father? Cillian Murphy plays Mike, the boyfriend of their au pair Kasia, he also becomes Skunk's teacher. Murphy plays Mike as the most loyal/devoted boyfriend who anyone would want, Which makes him a really likable character and even comes to Skunk's rescue which I think any girl would want. You really feel for him when things turn upside down on him, and want to reach out a give him a hug. Plus he keeps is Irish accent for this one! 'Broken' is a film full of emotions, be them happy, sad, anger or love. This film is an emotional roller-coaster ride with some brilliant actors and some wonderful singing from the lead lady herself.

Review: What an emotional movie which has something for everyone. It's extremely well written and the characters all put in emotional and very true to life performance. The storyline doesn't hold up right from the start, and the audience cant help feeling for all the 3 families, and teacher, who are going through there own personal problems. The connection to all of the 3 families and the teacher is Skunk, who was played well by Eloise Laurence. I know that this movie was done on a budget, but the movie is top class and its a shame that a lot of people will miss this film because it isn't a major blockbuster. great Movie!

Round-Up: If anyone reads my reviews, please rent this movie because you won't be disappointed. The director cleverly gives you the shock value right from the beginning and then he shows different situations from all of the 3 families points of view, which was put together extremely well. The other thing that surprised me was that it really isn't predictable and its one of those movies where it takes you some time to get out of that zone, once the film has finished. I'm glad that the director was able to get some quality actors to portray his view of the script because of the budget. A must watch!

I recommend this movie to people who like there emotional dramas about the relationship between 3 individual families. 8/10

Eloise Laurence, in her motion picture debut, is really terrific as Skunk, aka Emily Cunningham, in this extremely dark British drama. Tim Roth gives his usual very solid performance as Skunk's father Archie, a lawyer who is left to raise Skunk and her brother Jed (Bill Milner) after Archie's wife has run off with an accountant. They're aided by a live-in nanny Kosia, ably portrayed by Zana Marjanovic.

Skunk is an 11 year old girl who must face numerous challenges in addition to the loss of her mother. She's a Type 1 diabetic, who must take daily injections and constantly monitor her blood sugar levels. She also has to contend with a new school and the bullying therein, a crush on her teacher Mr. Kiernan, played by the fine actor Cillian Murphy, as well as a first boyfriend Dillon (George Sargeant) and a first real kiss.

However, even more scary and potentially more dangerous are her neighbors. There's the rageful and violent neighbor Bob Oswald, believably portrayed by Rory Kinnear, who along with his three out of control daughters are causing havoc in the neighborhood. There's also the seriously mentally disturbed Rick (Robert Emms), living across the street with his doting mother and overwhelmed father.

All of these families and characters will eventually come together in brutally stark ways. The film does little to shield the viewer from very bleak and difficult scenes.

Thank goodness for the movie's powerful ending or I may just have felt the whole film was just too depressing and unflinching for me.

All in all, Eloise Laurence's riveting presence on screen was I think the true heart of the film. Most likely this film is not for everyone with its' heavy themes, but with its' very strong ending I was glad I stayed with it.

The film was directed by Rufus Norris, an accomplished stage director but making his film debut here. It was written by Mark O'Rowe (Boy A), based on the novel by Daniel Clay.

To borrow a line from my review of last year's heartbreaking film, The Hunt (Jagten), sometimes children lie. Sometimes they are simple, instinctive lies; sometimes they are calculated as an easy escape from a truth that may have dark consequences and sometimes lives are broken as a result.

When 11-year old Skunk (Eloise Laurence in her film debut) witnesses a swift but brutal attack in the quiet avenue where she lives, a series of violent events, both physical and emotional, ensues that has a devastating impact on three families.

The three families, each dysfunctional in their own ways, would not ordinarily have anything in common and would not be drawn to one another, but we see them confined in a small cul-de-sac like trapped, wild animals thrown into the same cage and each missing some of the essentials for an equanimous life. In a strange way, this could be a suburban take on Life of Pi with a young girl trying to make sense of a mad world. The tragedy is circumstance, but that's no excuse for the way some of the neighbours enact their lives, escalating lies and compounding mistakes.

But though all sounds bleak, Broken is occasionally beautiful, frequently touching and often funny and, again, it is all these things because it is so real. Watching Skunk and her brother, Jed (Bill Milner, Will from Son of Rambow), wrestling, clipping clothes pegs to each other and hanging out in their camp, brings back memories of childhood when the world seemed against us but there was always an escape to a bright, fantasy existence.

The humour comes not from cheesy asides or self-conscious jokes but from delightfully extraneous happenings on the periphery: the crashing descent of a car in a breakers yard, a boy dancing alone in a car park and a pair of twins with poo in a slingshot… That director Rufus Norris (another debut) has paid such care to the incidentals makes Broken a more complete film.

His choice of music is fantastically inelegant. Forget the whimsy of Rachel Portman (Chocolat) or the rousing scores of John Williams (do you really need me to tell you?), what carries Broken is close to the demo tune on a 1980s Cassio keyboard with Rolf Harris twanging along on a Jew's harp. And if that isn't sufficient to lighten the mood, as characters on the screen struggle to make sense of the dark craziness of life, along pops a song to celebrate the bizarre madness of it and we are permitted to laugh as the singer intones 'One day when I'm really old, and my hair falls out, I'll stick it back with the spoon of the marmalade that you made…' It's rare that I mention the editing but Victoria Boydell has sensitively cut a story to match the patterns of our minds. Occasionally we jump forwards by minutes as if reading an exciting novel, our eyes sprinting ahead until our brain slows us down, then seamlessly we step back to see in everything fully and in order.

Norris has cast Broken faultlessly. The star name upon which it's sold is Tim Roth as Archie, Skunk's dad, a single parent who is the calm, reasonable father in the middle of a minor battlefield. It's unfathomable, watching him here, that he isn't a bigger star. Archie is clearly a man with great pressure in an unenviable situation but he doesn't simply make the best of it, he endeavours to make it the best it can be. It is a wonderful, understated performance that I suspect few will see.

Laurence is a revelation and the emotional fullness with which she inhabits Skunk allows us to root for her and silently admonish her, because she could easily be the girl next door.

There isn't a poor performance in Broken, only characters you care for and those from whom you'd run a mile. Rory Kinnear (son of Roy) as Bob, gives us a man who is, on the face of it, the neighbor from hell with a trio of daughters to match but he's no two-dimensional villain, rather a damaged man with his own daemons he is unable to cope with. In contrast, Kasia (Zana Marjanovich), the friend who lives with Archie as a cross between friend, auntie and surrogate mother, brings a gentle, caring irreverence in the midst of the turmoil but she, too, has her 'edge.' Robert Emms, so often an invisible supporting actor, is breath-drawingly good as the mentally ill, victimized Rick who struggles to cope with the various warzones into which he is cast. He is the hate-figure of Bob and his daughters, the cause of weariness and frustration in his parents (superb turns from Dennis Lawson & Clare Burt) and, more than anything, the terrifying confusion in his mind. His character evolution is superb and our own feelings towards him are as confused as his own.

Once the credits had rolled, I sat in silence and reflected on how life runs away from us and we are subject to its whims. Sometimes we emerge the beneficiaries, sometimes the victims. Perhaps this is simple karma; perhaps it is fatalism. Or maybe everything is random or even the result of misunderstandings and the inability of mere humans to communicate their feelings openly, simply and honestly.

Broken asks the questions but leaves us to draw our own conclusions.

Sometimes 'broken' may be repaired. But not always.

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Broken (2012)

A high stakes middle class melodrama that gets more and more intense—and improbable —as it goes. Well done stuff, with some disturbing insights into contemporary British suburbia.

Besides all the tense thrills of watching some rivalries between kids and parents in this world, and a couple of love affairs blossom, what is the takeaway? I've been wondering that for two days after watching it. And in a way I think there isn't any "message" or large point here. It's a slice of life kind of approach even though the "slice" here is an unrealistic bit of hyper-drama.

In a way this kind of interwoven tale of ordinary people experiencing extraordinary things (like murder) is a justification in itself. It's a high-drama movie, nothing less. That it is well made and well acted is a bonus. And the fact it manages to touch on issues of intolerance and misunderstanding in our current world is valuable. In all, well done, and well meant.

It also avoids what you might call insight, for lack of a better word. That is, there are all these horrible events (and some lovely ones) and we don't quite know why that are happening, or why not, other than because of circumstance. The underlying psychology, and social fabric, is supplied only sparingly, though it is implied often. What results is still quite dramatic, but why do I feel drained and incomplete by it all?

See this? Yes, absolutely. But knowing its deeper limitations.

For all the horror films that depend on zombies, vampires, werewolves and the like to place a fantasy make believe world before us to frighten us, none is as terrifying as this very realistic, extraordinarily well written, well photographed, well directed and well acted gem from Film Movement. It is a British product (BBC) and seems to have had a minimal response in the theaters. Now more available to the public, hopefully this brilliant work will attract enough attention to place it in the categories for many awards it so justly deserves. But more important, it may expose many people to the tragedies that surround us and are too often unnoticed or misunderstood.

In North London there are three families whose houses form a cul-de-sac: Archie (Tim Roth, never better) is a single father whose wife left him to raise 11 year old insulin dependent, adventuresome tomboy Skunk (Eloise Laurence) and her brother Jed (Bill Milner) and their housekeeper Kasia (Zana Marjanovic); The Oswalds – Bob (Rory Kinnear) is an out of control easily enraged father of three loose and trashy daughters Susan (Rosalie Kosky), Saskia (Faye Daveney) and Sunrise (Martha Bryant); and the Buckleys – Mr. and Mrs. Buckley (Denis Lawson and Clare Burt) and their severely mentally challenged son Rick (Robert Emms). Bob Oswald finds a condom that one of his daughters had been exploring, jumps to the conclusion that Rick has raped his daughter, and beats Rick mercilessly – a sight Skunk witnesses. This cruel error is the first play in the downward spiral of this profoundly sad tale of how these three families interact. There are a few subplots – Kasia is dating a local school teacher Mike (Cillian Murphy) as well as trying to convince Archie to marry her, Skunk is befriended and has her first rocky encounter with a boy named Dillon (George Sargeant) and they find an empty trailer house by the nearby junkyard where massive machines toss old cars around like unwanted bugs, one of the Oswald girl's secret pregnancy ends badly, Rick Buckley is blamed for every odd happening and is institutionalized, Skunk's friendship with Rick involves her in tragic consequences, and more. Every member of each family is broken in some way and the manner in which these pieces of shattered lives influence each other makes for some of the most profoundly moving scenes and themes ever filmed.

The story is based on the novel by Daniel Clay, adapted for the screen by Mark O'Rowe, and Rufus Norris makes his impressive directing debut. The entire cast is first class – this is the first film experience for Eloise Laurence and she is stunning, as are Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy and the rest. For this viewer this is one of the finest movies of the past year, a film so challenging and exquisitely crafted that it should be seen by everyone. Highly Recommended.

So simple and yet so complicated, as often life can be. Normal houses and plain faces on your block often conceal mini dramas. A cul de sac, to be precise, symbolic perhaps of the impasse that certain characters in "Broken" have reached.

Hats off to the director (and editor?) for the way certain sequences were handled. You would see a scene - the conclusion of certain events - and at the right moment (when you'd start wondering "when and how did this happen?"), the action would rewind itself and everything would make sense. From effect to cause...

I guess this movie is not for the "Batman" crowd. No jumping off roofs, no wild chases, no gunshots, just bleeding. The real kind that could happen to your sister or brother or parent or child. Or to your neighbour. The kind that you might read about in the newspaper the next day. Bleeding external and bleeding internal. Of the lip and of the heart.

The acting was very convincing. Not the kind that sticks in your mind forever, but that's exactly what I consider to be one of the film's main assets: the lack of exaggeration in the delivery of the lines is what makes the story plausible, real, as if though you're witnessing events unfold outside your window.

And hats off to the new kid on the block. Eloise Laurence is a natural. I'd love to have her for my daughter too! Or sister. Or neighbour. I have a feeling we'll be hearing more from her. And from director Rufus Norris. The chain must not be broken.

From the very beginning of the film, I got hooked by the beautiful cinematography and style, by the choice of characters and the accuracy of the details and by the visual storytelling that reminded me again and again why I fell in love with cinema in the first place.

The subject treated in this movie may not be something new for the viewers but what I am certain of is that director "Ruffus Norris" really has a great vision and an amazing ability to capture the audience's complete attention every single second of the film, allowing the movie to drive them.

You'll definitely enjoy watching this movie and I assure you, it will be quite an experience. Few movies have succeeded in capturing me to the last frame but Broken is one of them, again, a courtesy of the amazing cinema of England.

The movie is based on the concept of causes and consequences that lead to certain actions and results that may be good or bad depending on the situation. It is set in a small neighborhood where the stories of the characters living there intertwine in a beautiful way.

It is a story about the loss of innocence, childhood, unfortunate events and people trying to do "good", and forced to do "bad".

Enough said, this film is definitely a must-watch this year.

While watching this movie i was thinking about some concepts, specially the appearances and the truth behind any person, any event, any story, and also the power of sex as source of problems. These concepts have a very good case study in this British film, I want to underline "British" because I think it is important and it really gives a particular identity, those streets, accents, looks, school uniforms, habits, etc. are so heavy that it is definitely not a random feature.

What I really want to stand out is the performance of Eloise Laurence as "Skunk", she gives her character a tremendous freshness, she is very natural and convincing and above all, her face keep us under a beautiful spell. The rest of the cast is also excellent, and everything combines to give a quality film we can really enjoy despite of the drama.

Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy and Denis Lawson, what great actors so surely this must be worth the risk? Yes, the acting was great, even down to the youngest was without fault. Each character was well crafted and easily believable. Their scene interactions had energy and at times where touching and poignant. In retrospect this film could have been in the same class as "A Taste of Honey" and certainly had the potential.

The direction seemed to me to be trying too hard with the clever overlapping scenes and out of context spoiler clips, but this didn't detract too much from the experience and I'll concede it did add some value in terms of visual style.

The most frustrating aspect of the movie was the story which just didn't stick to reality in terms of how people would behave in the situations depicted. It appeared to be done this way to make the plot lines link together properly. What resulted was basically the sort of lazy writing seen in teen horror or thriller movies that makes you think "that wouldn't happen" or "you wouldn't do that". After a while it got so tiresome I lost interest in the characters, was just about to turn it off, but then the film ended...

With all it had going for it, I really wanted to like this film. Afterwards I felt very on edge, like I'd had too much coffee. I thought perhaps I had misunderstood something or needed to let the film sink in before evaluating it. Then I realised what it was. I hated it!

Rufus Norris' film 'Broken' tells the story of a linked series of events that take place on a suburban estate from a variety of perspectives. It has all the indie clichés, including the wide-eyed pre-pubescent female teen protagonist, a weedy folksy soundtrack, and a fairly clumsy portrayal of the difference between the respectable middle class and the underclass (who strangely, in this story, live directly side-by-side). The plot, however, features 4 deaths, 2 beatings following false accusations of rape, and another near death, so it's not exactly authentic "slice-of-life" stuff. Ultimately it feels like a debut movie, Norris actually puts the pieces together with some imagination, but the story never quite feels authentic.

This is going to be a very quick review as I do not wish to give anything away. It is a gritty, beautifully made, completely believable gem of a film.

The story could be set in any street in the UK and no doubt most will realise parallels with our own lives. Laughter, sorrow, pain, joy and all the things that make a stunner of a movie.

Brilliant acting through-out and no-doubt we will see these young stars again in the future. Tim Roth is Tim Roth and never lets you down so no news there.

Just go watch it.

Emily 'Skunk' Cunningham witnesses Mr. Oswald beating fragile Rick Buckley in his driveway at their cul-de-sac. Oswald found a used condom in his oldest daughter's bed and he forced her to come up with a name. The condom wasn't her's and picking Rick was a lie. Rick is released from jail and he doesn't press charges against Oswald. Rick starts to be a recluse in his parents' home. They are afraid of Oswald and Rick is hospitalized. Skunk's au pair Kasia is dating Mike (Cillian Murphy). Her father Archie (Tim Roth) tries to talk to Oswald but he's a vicious bully and so are the three Oswald girls. Skunk starts her new school. Mike is her teacher and she gets bullied by Sunrise Oswald.

This has a dreamy chipper quality with the darker material. Young Eloise Laurence is a charming lead. Cillian Murphy and Tim Roth are the big names with supporting roles. It's a quirky coming-of-age movie that keeps peppering it with darkness. Skunk is reminiscent of Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" in both looks and function. My main reservation is the redemption of Mr. Oswald. It's undeserved and convenient all at the same time.

I won't review the storyline because other reviewers have done so beautifully already. I just want to say that this is an excellent film with superb acting, fantastic cinematography, a complex and interesting storyline, and an emotional draw that sucks you into the lives of these characters.

I felt like I was there, in this cul-de-sac in England, with these families who were living, laughing, loving, and struggling in so many ways.

Film buffs will appreciate the creative eye of the director and the perfect combination of setting, set design, costume, acting, score, and cinematography.

UK is famous for its coming-of-age films with growing pains and (too) early maturation, where even preteens are inclined to enter the adult world, often via its dark sides. Therefore, there are less joy than problems, as broken families, mental problems, witnessing "indecencies", school/family violence etc, appear much more frequently. Such is the environment the 11-year-old diabetic Skunk (credibly performed by Eloise Laurence) has to cope and survive, in the teeth of all the difficulties listed above. Rather often, even people close to her (father, older brother, favorite teacher, au pair) embitter her.

So we see a gloomy picture of children life in contemporary British society, and there is no way out for most of them. The pace is often bleary, and the film lacks such intensity as e.g. Made In Britain or This Is England. Regardless of the fact that most of performances are good, names like Tim Roth or Cillian Murphy provide any film with additional values and levels. It is probably the script and pace which did not impress me so much.

Still, all in all a good film, and admirers of related films and/or the actors mentioned will not become disappointed.

Broken is a British coming-of-age drama film directed by Rufus Norris and stars Cillian Murphy, Tim Roth and Eloise Laurence. It is based on the 2008 novel of the same name written by Daniel Clay, which draws heavy influences from 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It tells the story of an 11 year old girl named 'Skunk' (what a beautiful name for a girl), who witnesses a brutal attack in the quiet street from where she lives. A series of violent events, both physically and emotionally ensue, which have a devastating impact on three neighbouring families.

While it's a fairly bleak story, filled with heartbreak, the cinematography and style of this film is beautifully done, and the acting was equally as impressive. With the strong similarities drawn from 'To Kill a Mockingbird', it almost feels like a remake, however if you are going to remake a film this is probably the perfect way to do it. I found some parts of the film to be a little slow, so I wouldn't recommend this film to casual movie lovers who enjoy high budget Hollywood films. This one is definitely aimed at fans of independent films with deeper story lines.

My Rating: 7/10 For more Movie and TV News, Reviews and Rumours go to: www.facebook.com/tvmovienews

Broken adapted from a novel and directed by Rufus Norris better known for his theatre work. The film is set in a London cul de sac and is a slice of life story with plenty of acknowledgements to the classic novel, 'To kill a Mockingbird.'

Eloise Laurence plays Skunk, a cheery 11 year old tomboy who sees her neighbour (Rory Kinnear) severely beat up another neighbour, a mentally challenged teenager (Robert Emms) who he thinks raped his daughter and made her pregnant. The accusation is false as all of Kinner's daughters are malevolent and rough and its not the only accusation of rape they make in the movie.

Skunk's dad is a kindly lawyer (Tim Roth) who is respected by many of the other neighbours. They have an au pair who is in a relationship with schoolteacher (Cillian Murphy.) Skunk also starts a budding relationship with another boy at the same time she faces bullying at high school and when Emms returns to the estate after his beating still traumatised, events take a nasty turn.

Norris brings the best of his actors as he coaxes both Murphy and Roth back from Hollywood and he definitely gets the most out of the young actors. The script is poor and fights against the film. The Kinnear character should had been thrown in prison for the first beating never mind been allowed to do it again the second time. It does not matter if a traumatized boy does not want to press charges he was in no such state to make a rational decision.

The drama with the on/off relationship with the au pair and the teacher as well as the au-pair later getting close to Skunk's dad was rather humdrum.

What I disliked the most was people getting bullied, beaten up and no effective action being taken against the perpetrators even if witnessed by teachers for example. Of course the title of the film wants to depict a Broken Britain, damaged people who look for those rays of goodness but this film lacks focus and a cutting edge.

Great acting . Why do the UK make so many bleak dramas? Really sometimes i wonder why i bother. Started off well. Best bit is with the clothes pegs and the brother and sister, that laughter was real. As for the rest of it. No real resolution. Ho hum. It makes me think twice about watch some UK and Aussie films they are so similar with that thread of utter depression running through them.